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Product Review: TMedPharma (3 Products)

People often ask me just what it is that I do with all of my time now that I’m stuck in bed. I love writing and I count myself lucky to have been included in the Chronic Illness Bloggers network, and given many opportunities to try products I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I have been given this product as part of a product review through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the company.

First, I’m going to throw a definition your way that I recently used for another review, and that is “medical food”, which this product falls under and is defined by the FDA:
“The term medical food, as defined in section 5(b) of the Orphan Drug Act (21 U.S.C. 360ee (b) (3)) is ‘a food which is formulated to be consumed or administered enterally [orally] under the supervision of a physician and which is intended for the specific dietary management of a disease or condition for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.’”

Targeted Medical Pharma, or TMedPharma for short, is producing items that are considered “medical food” that are therapeutic doses of specific ingredients meant to treat certain conditions. I was given three products because I suffer from autoimmune conditions – namely fibromyalgia, but possibly others that are still a mystery – that produce irregular sleep, overall inflammation, and fatigue.

First, I was given Sentra AM; the instructions state to take 2 capsules on an empty stomach.
This is where I really have to pay attention. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, so I take levothyroxine (brand name is commonly known as Synthroid) on an empty stomach every morning an hour before eating. It is very, VERY important to not take certain supplements or eat certain foods within four hours of taking this medication, so I had to check the label to make sure there wasn’t any vitamins C, calcium, or iron to stop my medication from working. The label states that the Sentra AM doesn’t have added sugar, starch, wheat, yeast, preservatives, or flavor. What it does have is an amino acid combination, ginko biloba, cocoa extract, and hawthorne (as in berry, which I take daily to support my heart and cholesterol issues). Also, I’m sometimes out of it in the morning, so I do this to remind myself of how many to take:Taking the Sentra AM didn’t have me climbing the walls, but I also wasn’t dragging, so it was a nice change. I took this for the entire three months’ supply that I was given and I never had any adverse reactions, which is great because I’m allergic to so many things. My energy pickup was subtle. I’m not certain that I would purchase additional bottles…but ask me a month from now when we are in the dead of winter and I have zero zip, and I may be singing a different tune.

Theramine is the “medical food” taken twice daily (2 capsules) to reduce inflammation. This one must also be taken on an empty stomach in order to be most effective. Theramine also contains a different amino acid combination, as well as GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), cocoa extract, Griggonia extract, grape seed extract, and cinnamon. Sometimes in products that are anti-inflammatory I experience allergic reactions because they have sneaked in some form of fish oil, but I didn’t see any on the list and no warnings, and I didn’t experience hives or wheezing, so I think I was in the clear. They state that the product does contain milk (in the enzymes, most likely) but does not contain added sugar, starch, wheat, yeast, preservatives, or artificial color.

I am going to impart some knowledge that I found out from going to a naturopath for years. If you take these products on an empty stomach, you will reap the benefits of anti-inflammation ingredients throughout your body.If you eat when you take these products, at best you will only feel benefits in your digestive tract. Take these one hour before eating or two hours after eating solid foods to make sure that you maximize the benefits.

After three months on Theramine, I have mixed feelings. My pain relief from a reduction of inflammation was subtle, if that is what happened. During these three months I was still dealing with the tears in my left shoulder tendons, which were extremely painful, and could have used the extra support. I also have just as much pain from the inflammation in my abdomen from the allergy to my drainage catheter to my shunt in my brain, and I’d love to have the stabby-stabby pains calm down. Generally, though, I felt less achy.

The third product was Sentra PM, targeted for sleep disorders associated with depression. Oh, did I mention that fibromyalgia patients, and indeed all chronic illness patients, are prone to depression? We are. Fibromyalgia patients fail to get into the sleep that brings on REM, so we rarely reach deep sleep, and we are forever exhausted. It’s a vicious cycle. We’re tired, so we go to bed, but we can’t get deep sleep, so we’re tired, so we go to bed…and often we’re told that our disease isn’t real, or we’re doing something wrong and that’s why we feel physically terrible, or that there’s nothing that will make us feel better. Enter TMedPharma with something to try to assist us in tackling this problem!Two capsules of Sentra PM should be taken at bedtime to promote restful sleep. I have a terrible time falling asleep and I haven’t used an actual prescription medication like Ambien for at least 13 years because of the terrible side effects (no, no getting up in the middle of the night and eating a gallon of ice cream or going to the bathroom in my clothes closet), because the morning after I would be a walking zombie, barely able to brush my teeth (sorry, former co-workers).

I’m very cautious when trying something new when it comes to messing with my sleep, so I started this on a Friday night when I knew I wasn’t expected to wake up the next morning for an appointment, and I didn’t feel like I experienced prolonged effects. The active ingredients include choline, GABA, glutamine, histidine, and tryptophan. The pamphlet states that Sentra PM provides the amino acids that are precursors to neurotransmitters that are responsible for initiating sleep. There were nights when I felt pretty tired about 30-45 minutes after taking my dose, but then there were nights when absolutely nothing could help me, and those were the nights right before big appointments and anxiety was getting the best of me. But overall, if I were to make a purchase, Sentra PM would be my first pick.

Targeted Medical Pharma strongly recommends consuming these “medical foods” under the guidance of a physician to make sure you are reaping the most benefits and not experiencing any unwanted side effects. This is something that you should take seriously; it IS possible to take too much of a supplement and cause unintended harm, and of course there is always the risk of being allergic to something.

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7 thoughts on “Product Review: TMedPharma (3 Products)”

This is WONDERFULLY done. You answered any questions I might have had about any of the three since I, too, am very careful about what goes in my body because of how it affects my brain. I ALSO tend to take corporate marketing with a b-i-g shaker of salt. I am especially pleased to see the ingredients – thanks for listing them.

The company has certainly done it’s homework – great ingredients for cognition & healthy brain aging regardless: aminos, GABA, cocoa, grape seed, and cinnamon, choline, GABA, glutamine,– and, of course, tryptophan has long known to be helpful for sleep.

I haven’t had time to jump over to TMedPharma’s website to investigate yet, but they seem to be taking a brain-based approach to pain management — consistent with the thinking of pain experts like Dr. Fernando Cervero, from Montreal’s excellent McGill University. He is (or was, as of Jan 2013) president of the International Association for the Study of Pain, and is the author of a relatively new book from MIT Press entitled, Understanding Pain.

Dr. Ginger Campbell does a GREAT interview with him on her Brain Science Podcast – which I’ve raved about for years and often quote in my articles — search for “Brain Science Podcast: REALLY Good Stuff!” on my site for some info on the podcast itself and links to various places on her supporting website (the Show nNtes include links to author blogs and related podcasts, as well as downloads of mp3s and pdf transcripts). You can search for Cervero on her site The interview I thinking about originally aired in early ’13, so I’m not sure if it’s still free, but it’s not more than a dollar or two if not.

Thank you for the additional info, I’ll have to look for both the book and the podcast.
A friend recently went through the Mayo Clinic pain “boot camp” and was not impressed, though I think they were striving to help her control her pain with mind over matter. She has five different rare neuralgias in her face (usually one is the limit for most patients) and that is why it is exceptionally difficult for her to reap any rewards from methods that most other patients might find helpful. We keep trying. (As I’m typing this, I’m testing another product that I’m excited to write about – stay tuned!)
Cheers,
Chelsea

btw – I do that on the top of ALL my meds – and write on non-script bottles and boxes too. Who wants to have to locate glasses to read how many of the blasted things to take how often and in what way???

Shoot, after a week of washing my hair in conditioner, wondering why it was “suddenly” getting greasy after years of the opposite, I even started defacing the fancy-schmancy containers with permanent marker. REALLY GUYS?! The *one* place you can be pretty sure that nobody wears glasses is the shower or tub. Come ON!!!! (I KNOW I could do a better job of packaging!!) I need to do a Monday Grump about this sometime.

Glad it’s not just me! I only did this because my routine of 11 years was changed. Mornings are hardest for me, and sometimes if I wake up for a little bit and it’s close enough to my medication time, I’ll take all of my doses (6 different meds, as opposed to evening, which is about 24 different medications and supplements; throughout the day I take up to 50 pills). But there have been a few times where I have caught myself pouring two levothyroxines out of the bottle when I should only have one, and that’s something I don’t mess with. Not getting the correct thyroid medication dosage can affect your heart. Your conditioner mixup did give me a bit of a giggle, though. 🙂

I PROMISE it’s not just you with the meds – common with ADD/EFDers. I don’t even trust my script meds to bottles – can never remember if I actually took them or not.

I have 5 SMTWTFS containers – and I fill them up for an entire month – so I can tell immediately what I’ve taken today by what’s lefr (easier for me ’cause I only take 1 each dose). I number the containers, btw, and use them “backwards” – it helps me track time to see the countdown before I am OUT and legally allowed another prescription.

After parsing, I peel the label & stick it on card stock to put in my wallet (so I can prove I’m not a junky if the cops decide to stop me for some other reason & find my meds in my purse.) Remember, my main med is a controlled substance.